I’m not satisfied with “fine.”

Everything is fine, why would you want to disrupt that?

The answer for some is surprising, but a simple one: because “fine” isn’t good enough.

Warning: if everything is not “fine” with you, this might take a leap of faith to get from “not fine” to “fine.” But you’ll get there (if you want it badly enough) and then you can move along from there.

There’s nothing wrong with fine and I’m in the front of the line to enjoy the moment and appreciate just how fine today is. But tomorrow can be even finer and the next day even finer.

I think there’s a, ahem, fine line between being satisfied and always longing for something better. You can drive yourself batty if it’s never good enough and you’re always striving for something better than you have now. But I think the ultimate balance is to be (more than) satisfied with how things are going now but at the same time be wanting more.

Did that make sense? Does that seem mathematically possible?

Can you be both:

Content with the present and

Wanting to improve the future?

I believe it’s possible. Not only possible, but the only way to live.

So am I not “fine” with the status quo? No, I’m not. I want more, I want better, I want improvement. I improve myself today for a better tomorrow, but I’m good with today. I’m just not good with fine tomorrow.

Bonus Cultual Material Below!

There’s a saying in Dutch that says, “Doe even normaal.” or “Doe maar gewoon.” (literally: just be normal) The extended dance-remix version is, “Doe maar gewoon, dan doe je al gek genoeg!” (Just be normal, you’re being crazy enough as it is!) People in Holland say it when you do crazy stuff like not just go to Spain for vacation but maybe to Portugal. Or maybe if you put butter on your bread of your chocolate sprinkle sandwich (sorry, that one takes more explanation than my limited word count here).

But the people who say this usually want you to be like their status quo. They’re not “doing crazy things” and they don’t think it’s right for you to do them. My goal is to have people say this to me for most things I do. We have some big changes coming up that are going to change our kids’ lives drastically. Some people have said, “You’re going to disrupt their lives!” I reply, calmly and with a sly smile, “I sure hope so.”

Change isn’t something that happens to you. Change is what you do to make it happen.